Uninternational space station Alternative Russian Space Station

What’s really behind the latest revival of Russia’s smaller, cheaper space station concept?

According to the plan approved by Roskosmos in February 2015, the creation of the Russian station would start with the separation of three newest Russian modules from the Russian segment of the ISS in 2024. Two earliest Russian-built ISS components — the Zarya Control Module, FGB, and the Zvezda Service Module, SM, will remain in place, enabling propellant delivery with Progress cargo ships (center) and the eventual controlled deorbiting of the outpost.

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On December 15, 2014, answering questions from journalists at the end of an annual press-conference, the head of Roskosmos, Oleg Ostapenko said that the agency had been considering options for the development of the High-Latitude Orbital Station, also known by its Russian abbreviation as VShOS. According to Ostapenko, the new space station would enable to monitor more than 90 percent of the nation’s territory (thanks to the higher inclination of its orbit toward the Equator than that of the ISS). In the future, the station would also serve as a foundation for the Russian lunar exploration program, Ostapenko said. The orbital outpost could function as a permanently inhabited facility or as a fully automated spacecraft with periodic visits by the crew, according to Ostapenko.

Peculiarly, the Earth-orbiting station concept seemingly contradicted a recently proclaimed Russian strategy to explore the Moon. During his introduction to the event, Ostapenko himself called the Moon the first priority for the manned space program. Obviously, building such a station would divert resources and time from any lunar expedition, observers said.

As often happens in human space flight, the projects are driven forward by reasons other than those officially announced. Industry sources familiar with the situation explained that the decade-old concept to follow the ISS with a small Russian station had received a new impetus in the past few months due to a combination of technical, political and financial problems.